How to Write an Effective Job Posting

The Key to Attracting Top Talent

Writing an effective job posting is a skill that is often undervalued and overlooked for it's importance in the recruiting process. How do you write and ad that will convince a top candidate to look at your position and convince that candidate to go from a good job to a better job? Tough question. It is also true that there are no books to learn how to do this. So how does someone write a job posting that attracts top candidates?

Keep It Real

Have you ever read a job description that is a list of skills and requirements and gotten really excited about the job? Usually it is the candidates who are out of a job or desperate

to find a new position who will be attracted to such a dry sterile job description. This is not keeping it real.

Keeping it real is describing the job requirements that would entice a great candidate to look at your job description. Tell that person the challenges of the position and the importance of why it is to be accomplished. The that candidate who will be impacted by decision and accomplishments made by the person filling the job. To be an effective job posting you want that "A" candidate to see themselves accomplishing important things for your company. Keep it real.

What Not to Do

Whatever you do in writing a job posting, do not just put up a job description. That says you are just going through the motions. If you want talent to find you and seek out your opportunity, you need to speak to that talent. That means in the job posting.

The second thing not to do is rely on tired job description cliches and acronyms. What exactly does fast paced mean or team oriented mean? Forget the cliches. If you want someone who can make quick decisions and adapt to changing circumstances then say so. If you want some who can do their job and work with others to achieve an outcome, then say so.

How to Create an Eye-Catching Job Ad

There are two objectives in writing an effective job posting, to paint an accurate picture of your position and attract top candidates. Keeping it real will and effectively creating a picture in the mind of the candidate the nature, scope and importance of the position will distinguish you from all the rest. It will put the candidate in the position of what it would be like to be successful in the position and it will tell them why the company feels the job is important.

When you can do that effectively, you will attract the top candidates who want to make a difference, they have a good job but would look at something better. There is an art to it and it takes practice but the rewards are meaningful and worthy of the effort.